It is a heart-wrenching photo with a tragic story behind it. We now know the victims found floating in the Rio Grande were Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, his daughter, 23-month-old Valeria. They were from El Salvador and had reportedly become frustrated waiting for two months in Mexico to apply for asylum to the United States.
Julia Le Duc, a reporter for La Jornada in Matamoros, Mexico took the picture. The Guardian spoke with her (see video above). She also described what happened to the news site saying, in part:
“On Sunday there was an emergency call about a woman who was in a desperate way down by the river. We heard the report and went down to the river where she was shouting and screaming that the current had taken her daughter.”
“The search went on until after 11pm, but even with boats and lamps they couldn’t find them.
The next morning, they continued in the light of day and, at about 10.15 in the morning, the firemen found the two bodies. That’s when I took the pictures, before the scene was taped off.”
“I’ve been a crime reporter for many years, and I’ve seen a lot of bodies… You get numb to it, but when you see something like this it re-sensitizes you. You could see that the father had put her inside his T-shirt so the current wouldn’t pull her away.
He died trying to save his daughter’s life.”
This is the family behind the photo.
This is Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, his wife, Tania Vanessa Avalos, and daughter, Valeria. On Sunday, Oscar and Valeria drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande to get to America. Photos of their lifeless bodies have spread around the world – these are their faces. pic.twitter.com/Cq55pdjBuc
— Annie Rose Ramos (@AnnieRoseNews) June 26, 2019
America was once a beacon of hope for families fleeing horrendous conditions, and it should be again. Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez & his daughter, Valeria, died simply in search of a better life. Julia Le Duc at @AP captured the gut wrenching consequence of our inhumanity. pic.twitter.com/0vskO17y1K
— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) June 26, 2019
Le Duc pondered whether her photo would make a difference for future families trying to make the same journey as the Ramirez’s:
Will it change anything? It should. These families have nothing, and they are risking everything for a better life. If scenes like this don’t make us think again – if they don’t move our decision-makers – then our society is in a bad way.”
Their names: Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez & 23-month-old Angie Valeria.
Their lives -and that of so many others taken by a humanitarian crisis that should shake us to our core- are too valuable to become statistics in a political game.
Let’s vow to remember their names. pic.twitter.com/J3ADFqtO4t
— Mariana Atencio (@marianaatencio) June 26, 2019
And, these two are the latest of many who die trying to come to America.
While world attention is focused on a photo of the tragedy of a father and child drowning in the Rio Grande, it's crucial to remember that hundreds of migrants die every year as they try to cross the US-Mexico border. 7,000 between 1998 and 2016. 1/ https://t.co/j1vPBpQ9iw
— Bob Moore (@BobMooreNews) June 26, 2019